S.

E.

A. 

A safe campus for all women.

An empowering environment where women embrace their potential and affect change.

A system of support that accelerates student' careers and lives of impact.

Mission Statement

UM provides fertile ground for this work. In fact, we’ve already begun. The S.E.A. Change Initiative brings new air and light to important campus programs that support all women while advancing gender equity.

We celebrate these programs, and we aim to do more. As a society, we are far from finished with the work that began over a century ago when suffragists argued for women to have a voice. At UM, we are not afraid of the work ahead, emboldened by our faculty, staff, and students who have been advancing gender equity for decades.

We will continue to cultivate in students and in ourselves a commitment to powering a sea change.

What If...

we removed the societal barriers that disadvantaged women?

society recognized and rewarded the unique calues all women bring to the table?

gender diversity in leadership representation became a reality?

women's successes in college were translated into true workplace equality?

all UM students became agents of positive social change?

we all partnered for equity?

Imagine what would be possible.

Imagine the benefits to society. 

Imagine the sea change toward a better future. 

The imperative of such a future is why we have launched the S.E.A. Change Initiative. Once we consider this imagined, better future, our role becomes clear. We must do better for women thereby doing better for all. Through the S.E.A. Change Initiative, we renew UM’s commitment to the work ahead in removing barriers that prevent women from leading empowered lives and that prevent society from benefiting from these strong and determined women.

Montana’s history is populated by courageous, resourceful and bold women who persisted in the face of societal, physical and psychological challenges: Blackfeet warrior Running Eagle; African-American Annie Morgan, who filed a homestead claim in the Rock Creek Valley and was the only black woman in Granite County in the 1880 U.S. Census; UM’s first graduates in 1898, Ella Robb Glenny and Eloise Knowles; Jeannette Rankin, who graduated from UM in 1902 and became the first woman elected to Congress; the bronc-riding Greenough sisters; and champion of Native American rights, Eloise Cobell. These Treasure State women were heroic, action-oriented and audacious enough to affect change. The S.E.A. Change initiative is an emphatic reminder of UM’s promise to graduate women who, in the tradition of the many Montanan women who have come before, will change our state, our country and our world.

UM students are the changemakers who will advance equity for all gender identities and expressions.

The University of Montana commits to powering a societal sea change by providing a safe and empowering campus for all women and a community that accelerates their careers and lives of impact.

The S.E.A. Change initiative is an expression of our belief that we are far from finished with the work that began over a century ago when courageous women fought for suffrage. We are proud of the progress that has been made, we will build upon our existing programs that empower women, and we will seek to do more.